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Duncanthrax the Bellicose
Duncanthrax the Bellicose, the first king of the Flathead Dynasty was a King of Quendor. Not much is known about his earlier life. One legend even suggests that Duncanthrax was a demon who assumed human form. Another legend describes him as a former rope salesman. Some historians insist that Duncanthrax was general of the Royal Militia: A petition signed by palace guards in 657 GUE, asking for an increase in the mosquito netting allotment, bears a signature that looks suspiciously like "Duncanthrax." He took the throne from Zilbo III during a palace revolt on the last day of 659 GUE and quickly developed a reputation for cruelty, bloodthirstiness and aggressiveness, thus earning himself the nickname "The Bellicose King." He raised a tremendous army and began a systematic conquest of the neighboring kingdoms. Within three years, the empire controlled virtually all the land between the Great Sea and the Kovalli Desert. It was during this period that the new king moved the seat of power from Largoneth to Egreth and made Egreth Castle his capital. He also built there a Glass Maze. Key events in the reign of Duncanthrax are the battle of Fort Griffspotter in 665 GUE, which gave Quendor complete control over the mighty Antharian Armada, and Antharia which was, at the time, the world's premier sea power. Antharia's superb ship-building facilities gave him undisputed control of the Great Sea and turned his attention to the newly discovered Eastlands. Incensed at the thought that those vast regions are beyond his grasp, he assembled a great fleet to cross the ocean and conquer them. As the invasion swept across those lands, he discovered huge caverns and tunnels, populated by gnomes, trolls, and other magical races. Not only he found a market for the useless Antharian granola (which nobody in Quendor liked), but the natural underground formations inspired Duncanthrax that they might be formed by humans as well. He realized that by burrowing into the ground he could increase the size of his empire. He founded the Frobozz Magic Construction Company (the forerunner of the modern industrial giant FrobozzCo International) in 668 GUE to carry out his project, and set the foundations for what his great-great-great-great-grandson, Dimwit Flathead, would call the Great Underground Empire. Cavern-building continued at a breakneck pace expanding tremendously the natural caverns in the eastern lands, while new caverns and passages were dug in the western lands, chiefly in the vicinity of Egreth. The simultaneous Great Underground Highway project intended to be a system that would connect all the parts of the Empire around the world. Fed up with charlatans who fooled the gullible population, on 9 Dismembur 672 GUE Duncanthrax authored The Unnatural Acts, a decree that provided stiff penalties for those convicted of selling "Unnatural or Supernatural substances". By the time of his death in 688 GUE, Duncanthrax ruled virtually all territory in the known world, above and below ground. Politics According to pie charts of the year 680 GUE, the Empire's fiscal priorities under Duncanthrax were distributed as follows: Category:kings